The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1887-03-31
A STUDY OF LITERATU RE
FROM THE ELJZABETHAN AGE TO
THE ACCESSION OF ANNE.
Prof. Henry f. Shepherd. LII. D., Pres
Famous Period in our Literary History.

|
Prof. Henry f.. Shepherd. LII. D., Pres.
ident of Charleston College, writes OF &
Famous Period in our Literary History
Especial Cor. STATE CHRONICLE
CHARLESTON, S. c., March 25, 1887
There is no period in our literary his
| tory more fascinating or more instructive
| than that which embraces the interval be
tween the age of Elizabeth and the age oil
i Anne. The complex. influences that de
| termne the growth of the period only add
| to its interest while augmenting its diff.
| Guilty. A concise review of the Elizabeth.
an age, brief presentation of its charac-
| teristlc feats, may serve as an appropriate
| prelude to the investigation we purpose.
! In no era of the modern world is the init
mate relation existing between history
and literature more impressively illustra-
ted than in the age of Elizabeth. No lit
erature is more perfect reflection of the
historic forces that develop and fashion
it. 1t is remarked by one of the most
eminent of living historians that "all an
cient history comes to its head in Rome,
and that all modern history descends from
Rome"-in other words Rome is the cen
tire of European history. A somewhat
similar relation is sustained by the litera-
ture of Elizabethan times to the literature
of all other periods in our history. To
this age all previous literary growth as
cends-within it are contained the origi-
mating forces, the germinal principles,
from which all subsequent evolutions of
our literature have been developed. A
complete narrative o: the origin and
growth of our Elizabethan literature is
still to be written. 1t rises upon us with
such brilliancy and spIendor that we are
prone to overlook and disregard the long
stage of preparation which it underwent; !;
the diligent culture that it received dur
ing the first thirty years of Elizabeth's s
reign. We ignore the scrupulous and as
siduous labOrs of Ascham, Wilson, Put
tenham, Sackville, Lewis, Harvey, and
Sidney in their completed result, the ma
tured splendor of Spenser, MarlOwe, and
Shakespeare. 1t has not been observed
with sufficient care, that during the first
years Of the Elizabethan era, its literary
development seemed to incline rather to-
wards classical or critical han crea
tive type. The skill and earnestness with
which Sidney advocated the unities of the
drama, the influx of classicadioms, the
wealth Of vocabulary drawn from ancient
stores, all indicate the tendency of our
literature during the earlier decades of
the 'spacious times" to assume a critical
rather than romantic character. Sid
ney's protest against the incongruites of
the romantic drama, has perhaps never
been surpassed. That the artistic iucOn-
vcniences of the system We're painfully
felt by Shakespeare is evident from the
superb prologue which graces the play of
Henry V, his most heroic conception of
character. 1t was in arresting or coun
teracting the tendency of the time to-
wards the observance of the unities that
the the peculiar historic influences of the
age are conspicuously exhibited. The
form and pressure of the era was becom-
ing hostile to that mechanical order which
marks the classical drama The purest
types of Elizabethan heroism were a pro-
test against its rigid procedures. Their
versatile luxuriance of character, their
fierce aggressivenesS, their strange blend
ing of the fantasies of the chivalric age
with the realism of modern life, rendered
them the reflection of that brave dis
order" which is so marked a feature of the
Shakespearean drama. The lives of Drake,
Essex and Raleigh were a protest against
decorous uniformity. The historic i'm
pulses of the time determined the fashion
of the drama, as it determined the fashion
of every phase of our literary growth dur
ing this era of creative power At the ac
cession of Elizabeth in 1858, the English
integrated condition. The sweet strains
of English song that had arisen with
Ch ,ucer died away almost as suddenly as
they had begun, leaving scarcely an echo
of their melody during the period that in
tervened from the death of Lydgate and
Oclene to the advent of Surrey and Wyatt
The land had been convulsed by the
Thirty Years War Of York and Lancas-
ter-a struggle involving no constitution
al principle but leaving an abiding i'm
press upon the fortunes of English speech.
Then came the introduction of printing,
stimulating in its first effects the existing
disorder. The Renaissance and the Re
formation followed in i's train. Theolog
ical controversy, never propitious to polite
literature, diverted the minds of men
from the ennobling pursuits of scholar
ship; it intensified the acrimony of the
cOmbatants, and rendered zeal and con-
tidence much more effectual aids to sue
cess than art or the graces Of art" Other
causes of dlSntegratlOn are to be cnumer
ated. The perverted imitation of classi-
cal graces, the endeavor to engraft upon
the logical structure of English the COM
plicated periods of the ancients, the fabri
cation of Latin terms-pedantic and Os-
charlottesville resort of aspiring English
men to the academies of Florence .and
kOmo-Clo 1ntrOOuCt1On OF ltallan terms
and Italian fashions ns-reprobated by AS
cham with honest Indignation and by
Shakespeare in one of the few allusions
he has bestowed upon the form and fea
ture of his own age; the increase Of
geographical knOwledge; the extension Of
commercial enterprises; the chivalrlc love
CT adventure, all united to increase the
vocabulary by the introduction of an
enormous wealth of words. When Eliza
beth ascended the throne the language
was in an unsettled condition and but
seldom resorted to for the higher forms of
literary effort. Roger Ascham deprecates
his own employment of the mother tongue,
doubling not that he should be ''blamed
for using it," This internal disorder is
veiled from the gaze OF the casual reader
by the splendor of the following era. To
the reflective mind it is suggestive COM
mentary and has its partial parallel in the
advance of Athens to political and liter
ary supremacy during the period succeed
ing the Persian wars. No language ever
underwent a more thorough reconstruc-
ton than English during the first thirty
years of Elizabeth's reign. The complex
strife of the Reformation found tenn
porary resting place in the tolerant and
expansive creed Of the Anglican church.
Puritanism was still latent force and the
Tudor ideal of ecclesiastical polity the
embracing CT all classes and diversities in
a national establishment, seemed not yet